seafood

my favorite paella

servings
4-6

method

As a young boy, the idea of meat and fish together in one dish never made sense to me. But once I tried paella the combination of textures and smoky flavors completely won me over. It's one harmonious, exciting, stomach-pleasing smasher of a dish. Some locals will say you don't add chorizo, but because I love it, I'm adding it here. You can pick up a proper paella pan (like the one in
the picture) at most department stores, but a large shallow pan about 30cm across will also work a treat.

Without question this is one of Spain’s hero dishes. Although incredibly flexible and delicious, it was never intended to be as visual and flamboyant a dish as it is. It was invented by farmers, grabbing whatever bits of meat, veg and fish they had available to them and using rice to bring it all together. Over time it’s been refined and claimed by all sorts of people around Spain as their own. That’s the
great thing about paella, you can make it your own by taking the principle of it and adjusting it to embrace whatever ingredients are in season and around you.

Heat a large wide-based pan over a medium heat and add a lug of olive oil, the sliced chorizo and the pork belly. Fry for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. As soon as the chorizo starts taking on color and the fat is beginning to cook out of it, add the chopped peppers, garlic, onion and parsley stalks along with a good pinch of salt and pepper and the saffron. Fry gently for another 10 minutes, or until the vegetables have begun to soften. Meanwhile pick through the shellfish and get
rid of any clams or mussels that aren't tightly closed.

Add the rice and jarred peppers and keep stirring for a few minutes until the rice is coated in all the lovely flavours, then pour in the tinned tomatoes and 800ml of stock, seasoning again with salt and pepper. Bring everything to the boil, then turn down to a medium to low heat and stir constantly for about 15 minutes. This combination of flavors will be absolutely beautiful, but you’ve got to help the dish along by doing your job and making sure each grain of rice gets the same amount of love. So every now and then, stir from the outside of the pan into the middle so you get a sort of pile of rice in the centre, making sure nothing is sticking to the bottom. Flatten the pile out with your spoon, then start the whole process again.

After 15 minutes the rice should be cooked, but still have a bit of a bite, so add the mussels or clams and the prawns. You may want to add an extra splash of stock here if the rice looks a bit dry. Keep stirring, and as the clams and mussels start to open and the prawns begin to turn pink, add your squid and green beans and cook for a further 5 minutes or so. Discard any clams or mussels that don't open. Stir in the chopped parsley leaves and the juice from half your lemon wedges, and bring to the table with the remaining lemon wedges on the side.

• from Jamie does...

ingredients

• olive oil
• 2 raw chorizo sausages
(approximately 250g in
total), thickly sliced
• 300g pork belly, skin
removed, the best quality
you can afford, cut into
1cm pieces
• 1 green pepper, deseeded
and roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded
and roughly chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
and roughly chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and
roughly chopped
• a small bunch of fresh
flat-leaf parsley, leaves
picked and roughly chopped,
stalks finely chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
• a good pinch of saffron
• 400g clams or mussels,
scrubbed clean and debearded
• 300g paella rice
• 200g jarred red peppers in oil,
drained and torn into pieces
• 1 x 400g tin of
chopped tomatoes
• 1 liter chicken or vegetable
stock, preferably organic
• 12 large prawns, shells on
• 150g squid, cleaned and
finely sliced
• 150g green beans, sliced
very thinly at an angle
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

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tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Camille on Fri 06 Jan 2012 @ 21:36

In the summer 2011, I bought the Food Revolution cookbook and tried many of the recipes in the book. I gained enough confidence to cook a paella for my family on Christmas Eve 2011. It was PERFECT!! Thank you Jaime for your cookbooks and helping me become a better cook!

2. by macalinao on Fri 06 Jan 2012 @ 09:15

i love your paella version i did it for may family this holiday season and they do love it too thanks Jamie i love you men, your the best celebrity chef keep it up and more power...

3. by Wiggy on Wed 21 Dec 2011 @ 12:28

Made this the other night and I have to say, it was 10 times better than any I had in Spain and one of the best meals I've cooked. It only took me 45 to make and was a hit with my dinner guests. I think using the freshest juiciest aussie green prawns and live black muscles really made the difference...Ohhh and that awesome smokey chorizo I got from the local butcher...nom

4. by CARMEN on Mon 31 Oct 2011 @ 11:27

Hi Jamie!! I'm Spanish, from Castellon, in the Valencian Community, I'm a blogger too: http://olletadelaplana.blogspot.com/ . I was quite surprised when I read this recipe. I would never cook paella this way. It's a long time I wanted to send you an email telling you this is not the way the Valencian Paella is cooked. We do not make it this way. We never put chorizo o parsley in it. We make paella mixta which includes prawns, cocckels, mussels, some chicken, green pepper, tomato and garlic. The typical Valencian paella wouldn't be eaten in England for sure, so we not only put chicken but rabbit and snails, and many vegetables like artichokes. Well, what else to tell you, just that I admire your work and I've also made some of your recipes. My greetins, Carmela

5. by Sara on Sun 30 Oct 2011 @ 12:00

I´m Spanish as well and am all for being creative with the ingredients, that´s up to the cook but there is one delicious thing you´ll be missing if you follow this recipe step by step and this is the "socarret", a slight crust that is formed at the bottom of the pan(due to NOT stirring once the rice goes in), people in Spain sometimes actually fight over this tasty crunchy treat!!

6. by Claire on Fri 23 Sep 2011 @ 03:49

I followed Jamie's recipe truthfully and guess what? It tasted fabulous. My friends all loved it and asked me for the recipe. At the end of the day, it's the taste that matters.

7. by ramon on Thu 01 Sep 2011 @ 15:18

paella never do onions, green pepper, and chorizo. it's a sacrilege. if you wont do a realy paella, chek in spanish page

8. by Shamey Baby on Wed 31 Aug 2011 @ 10:24

@bankai who honestly cares. If you read the whole article he says at the top that locals don't include chorizo but that he does because he likes it. Also whenever I've been to Spain they put chorizo in, and guess what, I like it. It is not up to you what people are or aren't allowed to cook and eat. I don't get all huffy about full english breakfasts or sunday roasts! I'm gonna cook this tonight and put loads of chorizo :D

9. by bankai on Sun 28 Aug 2011 @ 11:41

I am from Spain and I can tell you that paella does not have chorizo and rice is the last thing we put into it. I must also say that the clams and muscles are never opened while boiling with the rice, we do that separately as, sometimes the clams have sand in it.

10. by martin on Sat 18 Jun 2011 @ 20:06

you never stirr paella, i am afraid. paella is not risotto. that's why it is important to add the right amount of water or fumet and let it cook. les jeux sont faits: never add any more stock nor stirr!

11. by Robyn on Wed 15 Jun 2011 @ 20:05

I don't like following recipes, and I'm especially picky about how paella should be, but this recipe was AMAZING and makes the PERFECT paella. WIN.

12. by Kelly Tanner on Sun 01 May 2011 @ 20:02

My boyfriend just made paella by following this recipe... Minus the saffron as we couldnt find any in the supermarket. Was gorgeous! Highly recommend! :)

13. by jmferrer on Mon 22 Nov 2010 @ 00:59

Hola Jorge,

Soy un amante de las paellas, si pudieras compartir tu receta con un amigo Chileno, te lo agradecería.
Quisiera tener una receta realmente original, he intentado con otras y me quedan buenas, pero nada como algo original de la Madre Patria.
Un saludo,

JM Ferrer

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